Elizabeth Lee Miller, better known as Lee Miller, is best known as a model, and lover and muse of surrealist artist Man Ray. In reality Lee Miller was also an artist in her own right, as well as an actress and war correspondent. She will have an exhibition solely dedicated to her at the Tate Britain later this year. While we wait for this, let’s look at the lover story between her and avant-garde artist Man Ray!
Miller became a model after being rescued from a car crash by publisher Conde Nast, after which she appeared on the cover of Vogue. However, after appearing in a Kotex image, her fashion career took a hit and she turned to art. She was recommended to meet Man Ray, which she did in Paris in 1929. She became his assistant, and shortly after, his lover.
In fact, Miller had always been interested in photography, a passion introduced to her by her father, and had even said that she would rather be taking the picture, than appear in it. So the union between the two makes perfect sense.
Man Ray made many works with Miller, and many of his iconic solarization images, where he turned the light on in the dark room, are of Miller. To be honest, the most famous works by Man Ray, probably feature Miller, who was 17 years his junior.
Miller ended the relationship in 1932, when she returned to the US to establish her own photography studio. It is reported that Man Ray turned to despair. In this time he made his iconic image of the metronome with Miller’s eye. The idea behind the work was that the metronome would tick for as long as you could stand it and then you would smash it, like a lost love.
In 1937 they were reintroduced and decided to become friends, which they did until the end of their lives. They even went on holiday together with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Dora Maar.
Following their relationship Miller worked for British Vogue before becoming a war photographer, reporting in Alsace, France during the Second World War and in concentration camps in Buchenwald and Dachau. Perhaps her most famous image is the one she took of herself taking a bath in Hitler’s bathtub.
Miller stopped photography in 1953 and became an alcoholic. Instead of distancing himself from her, Man Ray would send her gifts to lift her spirits during this difficult period. In fact, Man Ray also became friends with Miller’s husband, the artist Roland Penrose, and the three have been described as having a “triangle of intelligence”, writing letters to each other.
When Man Ray died in 1976, Miller was one of the first to be informed. In fact, it is noted that Man Ray’s second wife told her: “He is still warm. I will kiss him for you.” Miller would die a year later.
Text by Lizzy Vartanian
